Susan Wojcicki, who became Google’s 16th employee, helped start the company in her garage, later ran its advertising business, and has spent much of the last decade leading YouTube, passed away at the age of 56.
Image source: blog.google
She joined Google in 1998 and served as YouTube CEO from February 2014 to February 2023, stepping down to focus on “family, health, and personal projects.” Wojcicki battled non-small cell lung cancer; her son Marco Troper passed away earlier this year.
Susan Wojcicki helped turn Google into one of the most important companies of the last two decades, and she helped turn YouTube into a platform for the next generation of celebrities. Long considered one of the most powerful women at the company, she spent much of her tenure reporting directly to Google’s co-founders. Wojcicki personally convinced Google’s board to buy YouTube.
She also helped build Google’s advertising business, co-developing AdSense and orchestrating the 2007 acquisition of DoubleClick, a deal that is considered pivotal to Google’s advertising empire. Now the company is fighting a lawsuit accusing it of monopolizing the digital advertising market.
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